title: Clinical significance of preoperative serum levels of CA 125 and TAG-72 in ovarian carcinoma.
abstract: In a prospective study we evaluated in 48 patients with primary ovarian carcinoma the prognostic value of the preoperative circulating serum levels of CA 125 and TAG-72. Serum levels of CA 125 were above the cutoff level of 35 U/ml in 68% of patients, TAG-72 levels were higher than 6 U/ml in 50% of patients, while the simultaneous use of the two markers increased the sensitivity to 75%. Pretreatment CA 125 and TAG-72 levels were significantly lower (p < 0.05, for both) in patients with well differentiated tumors than in those with moderate or poor differentiation. Similarly, both marker levels were significantly higher (p < 0.001) in patients with residual disease after cytoreductive surgery than in those with no residual tumor. In addition, the CA 125 levels were also higher in initial stages (I-II) than in more advanced stages (III-IV) (p < 0.05), whereas TAG-72 levels were higher (p < 0.05) in patients with mucinous or endometrioid tumors than in those with serous carcinomas. The results further indicated that high preoperative serum levels of CA 125 and TAG-72 were associated with a shorter overall survival (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01, respectively). Finally, separate Cox multivariate analysis showed that preoperative CA 125 and TAG-72 serum levels were, after stage, the strongest factors to predict overall survival (p < 0.0001, p < 0.05 and p < 0.005, respectively) in patients with ovarian carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, General Hospital of Segovia, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vizoso
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vázquez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ruibal
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Balibrea
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D018394:CA-125 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018394:CA-125 Antigen; D006023:Glycoproteins; C047052:tumor-associated antigen 72